School News: Students returning to in-classroom learning 1/6/21
All students are kept informed directly by school staff through their weekly Newsletter and more. — This article is for those in town who wish to be informed as to what is happening in the school system — such as substitute teachers, grandparents, neighbors next to the school building, past students, etc. — these are “highlights” from the school newsletter for general information.
CLARIFYING NOTE: What is “asynchronous learning”? == Every Friday is asynchronous. Students are all online. Students log on to each class and upload their completed assignments by 3:00 p.m. that day.
FROM LYONS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ANDREW MOORE – JANUARY 4, 2020 – RETURNING TO IN-CLASSROOM LEARNING –
All of our students are invited to return to in person learning, Monday – Thursdays, starting this Wednesday 1/6. This is an enormous milestone for our community. Please review the information below to better understand the safety measures we are taking to ensure a safe learning environment for our staff and students.
Our approach to social distancing and campus-wide procedures will allow us to confidently limit and manage any potential spread of the COVID-19 virus. This list of details, although not exhaustive, will provide you with an overview of our procedures:
==With all of our students back in the building, students will be working at roughly 3 feet from one another.
==Each classroom of students will be considered a cohort, and interaction with the other students in their grade level will be limited to recess and lunch. Lunch will be held in the gym, which will decrease exposure to one another (see below). *The only exceptions to this will be for a small number of students who access our Special Education or Gifted programs, who may have small group times together.
==During lunch, students will eat in the gymnasium, which will allow us to have both classes from each grade level eat at the same time. The size of the gym will allow us to separate the classrooms (and students) from one another. We have increased our staffing model during lunch, allowing us to support students as well as robust cleaning regiments.
==Entire grade levels will have recess together, and students will wear their masks unless they maintain a six foot distance from one another.
Generally speaking, we will eat snacks outside. If/when snacks are eaten inside, students will have their masks off for about 10 minutes, and will be stationary and spread out. In many instances with older students, they will simply sneak their bite of snack up and under their mask.
Water fountains remain deactivated. Students will need to bring a water bottle to school and access one of our filling stations or sinks.
Having hired an additional custodian, classroom cleaning and high touch areas continue to be cleaned throughout the school day.
Our classrooms maintain a MERV air quality level of 11, and our PTO has purchased air filters for every classroom.
Quarantining guidelines have been clarified by county and state health agencies. General guidelines are:
In preschool-3rd grade, if there is a presumed positive, or positive case of COVID-19 in the classroom, the entire class will be quarantined for 10 days. (for more information, contact the school office staff)
Drop off and pick up procedures will follow the model we used during hybrid learning. Students will congregate in their grade level areas each morning (with masks), starting at 7:50 a.m. Students will exit the building during pickup (2:50) from various exterior exits to avoid creating congestion.
Students can chose to remain at home and do virtual learning, but they can no longer switch between the two.
Monday, January 18: No School for all students, to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
FROM THE LYONS MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ANDREA SMITH – JANUARY 4, 2020 – SLOWLY RETURNING TO IN-CLASSROOM LEARNING
Our district will be starting with remote learning for the first three days of this semester (Wednesday thru Friday, January 6, 7 and 8) and then will transition middle school students into hybrid followed by high school students the next week. This impacts Lyons Middle Senior a bit differently since we have both middle school and high school students in our building.
PER THE DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT: Choose one: (1) Return to hybrid learning (2) Stay fully online/remote (3) Move to LaunchEd, the district online learning program. There is no longer the option to go back and forth between fully remote and hybrid in person learning.
COVID GUIDELINES: (1) students will almost always be working at least 6 feet from each other with some group work (2) During lunch, students will eat in the Cafetorium and will use a QR code to identify their seat for the lunch period. We have increased our staffing model during lunch, allowing us to support students as well as robust cleaning regiments. (3) Water fountains deactivated; bring a water bottle; refillable stations. (4) Classroom cleaning throughout the school day. Classrooms maintain a MERV qir quality level of 11. (5) ARRIVAL/DEPARTURES: Middle school and high school students arriving before 7:40 a.m. will be asked to socially distance in the gym and will scan a QR code so we have a seating chart. Seating charts are consistent.
————Middle/High School calendar————–
Wednesday and Thursday, January 6 and 7: will be remote learning for all students with asynchronous learning on Friday (Jan 8).
No students will be coming to the school building on these days.
Both middle school and high school will follow the remote learning block schedule.
Monday, January 11, middle school students will begin hybrid learning, while high school students will remain remote learning this week. ==Fridays will still be asynchronous learning for all students. ==We will revert back to our hybrid 7 period bell schedule.
CLARIFYING NOTE for Middle School students will begin a Hybrid schedule of seven classes each day beginning Monday January 11th. Middle School students are assigned a Group number. == Group 1 students will attend in person on Monday and Wednesday while Group 2 students are logging on to each class from home on Monday and Wednesday. == Group 2 students will attend in person on Tuesday and Thursday while Group 1 students are logging on to each class from home Tuesday and Thursday. == Fridays are asynchronous for both groups.
CLARIFYING NOTE for High School students: High School students will be fully online until the week of January 19th.
High School students are assigned a Group number. High School students are on a block schedule with odd and even days. ==High School Group 1 students will attend in person on Monday (odd classes) and Tuesday (even classes) ==while Group 2 students are logging in from home on Monday and Tuesday. == High School Group 2 students will attend in person on Wednesday (odd classes) and Thursday (even classes) ==while Group 1 students are logging in from home on Wednesday and Thursday.==
Fridays are asynchronous for both groups
Monday, January 18: No School for all students, to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Tuesday, January 19: high school students will return to hybrid learning with asynchronous learning on Fridays.
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